CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Voters will be asked if they want fund the repair of a firetruck at a special town meeting on Sept. 8.
Residents will be asked to authorize selectmen to take the following actions:
• Expend $6,400 from the undesignated surplus to repair the Fire Department ladder truck. After voters rejected a proposal in March to spend $655,000 on a new ladder truck, the existing one needed to be repaired to be brought up to state standards. Dave Cota, Carrabassett Valley town manager, said he expects the town to approve this item.
• Spend $2,000 from the undesignated surplus to pay a consultant to work with the ladder truck study committee. A consultant from Maine Fire Training and Education is working with the committee to assess the viability of the purchase of a new truck. Cota expects the report to be completed sometime in the fall, with recommendations ready for the next scheduled town meeting in March.
• Expend up to $10,000 out of the existing $36,261 in the public lots account to improve Touring Center Road.
• Enter into negotiations with the Penobscot Indian Nation to lease cross-country ski trails, formerly known as the Redington Pond Loop Trail, to the town. According to Cota, the touring center land is owned by the town and leased to Sugarloaf. Cota said he doubted the deal with the Indian nation would happen.
• Expend up to $5,000 from the recreation endowment fund, to be matched by Sugarloaf, to repair bridges on touring center cross-country ski trails. This would be needed if a deal was struck for leasing the Redington Pond Loop Trail.
• Accept .372 acres from Sugarloaf to accommodate the construction and operation of the proposed practice putting green. This, said Cota, will not cost the town any money.
• Appropriate up to $100,000 to fund construction costs for additional improvements to the new clubhouse at the town-owned Sugarloaf Mountain Golf Club. Similar to the touring center, the golf course is owned by the town and leased to Sugarloaf. The new clubhouse committee recommends that the selectmen be authorized to borrow this additional sum to “adequately complete the new golf course clubhouse as originally designed,” according to the meeting warrant. The total includes $20,000 in additional contingency funds, $25,000 for a practice putting green, $15,000 for materials to finish the basement, $25,000 for a metal roof, and $15,000 for a screened porch.
In addition to this proposal, the committee and selectmen also seek approval to borrow up to $67,000 for lower-priority clubhouse costs. including $5,000 for irrigation for clubhouse lawns and gardens, $20,000 to finish a downstairs locker room, $15,000 for a stone fireplace, $6,000 for granite steps, and $21,000 for a commercial sprinkler system.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, at the Anti-Gravity Complex. Warrants for the meeting are available online at www.carrabassettvalley.org/localgovt/currentissues.asp, or at the town office.
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